Improvement in ruffles



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ABBY H.' PRICE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE MAGIC RUFFLE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT I N RUFFLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,103, dated-Julie 30, 1863.

'Fo all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ABEY H. PRICE, ofthe city and county of New York, in the State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Ruflies; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof'.

The accompanying drawings t'orm a part of this specification. The tints are employed to indicate parts and distinguish one from another, and not to indicate colors of the goods.

Figure 1 is across-section of my ruflie as it is produced at a single operation by a suitable machine.. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section thereofon the line S S. Fig. 3 is a corresponding section on the line T T. Fig. 4 is a crosssection showing the ruffle as it is sewed upon a garment. Fig. 5 is a corresponding section, showing the same after it has been properly folded and pressed down to complete its adjustment on the garment. The position indicated in Fig. 5 is that in which the ruffle is well adapted to'be worn, and one in which it presents a highly ornamental appearance. My ruffle is capable of other` applications, in which its novel feature is equally conspicuous, and which will be referred to in detail below. Fig. U is a cross-section, showing some of the parts of the sewing-machine by which the ruffle has been produced.

Similar letters ofreferenceindicate like parts in all the figures.

My improved ruffie is produced on a sewing-machine, and the gathers are held to the ungathered stuff, and are maintained in their proper positions by a single line of sewing-machine stitches. In these respects it is analogous to the ruffle patented by Geo. B. Arnold,

dated May 8, 1560. It differs therefrom in the fact that the binding or nngathered stuff incloses a cord, inclosesit in a space between the line of stitches and the front edge of the binding, and thereby presents an additional ornament in the form of a bead extending along, in combination with the ruffle, in the manner which will be explained below. The introduction of this cord also increases the strength and durability of the goods.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, I willproceed to describeits construction and operation by the aid of the drawings and of the letters of reference marked thereon.

A and B are strips of muslin or other suitable fabric. O is a cylindrical cord. The strip A may be cut crosswise of the piece of goods, so that it may be gathered with greater facility, and is hemmed 011 one edge. The strip B may be cut lengthwise of or diagonally across the piece, and need not be hemmed on either edge, but it is folded upon itselfin the manner represented. The cord O is introduced before the folding operation is completed.

Disasingleseriesofsewing-machinestitches. In Fig. 2, so far as stitches can properly be made to appear in such a view, lock-stitches are represented, while in Fig. 3 a full representation ofchain-stitches appears. Any kinds ofstitehes which may be produced continuously and rapidly on a sewing-machine may probably be employed in lieu of either of these. I make the series or line of stitchesfas near as possible to the cord G and force the cord C as tightly as may be into the extreme lof the fold of the muslin B. The binding or strip B may be readily folded and made to receive the cord Continuously as the material is fed into the machine. I have accomplished this successfullyby the employment of a very simple folding-gage provided with a proper guide for the cord, and the work will present no difficulty to those familiar with the gages and guides now used in the presenting of goods to a sewing-machine.

My ruffle may be transported in good condition to any distance by winding it upon a card, in the same manner as is practiced with other rufdes. When it is desired to attach it to a garment it mayy be sewed thereto in the manner shown by Fig. 4, and subsequently folded and ironed down in the position shown by Fig. 5. E represents the additional line of stitches by which this attachment of my ruffle to a garment is effected.

I do not consider it absolutely necessary to give to the presser-foot G ofthe sewing-niachine the nicely-adapted form shown, but I have used one, with good success, havingafo-rm closely approximating that represented, and

prefer that form.

I believe that any sewing-machine which can malle other rufiies can make mine5but I have used and prefer a machine in which a double feeder' is employed, as described in the patent issued to Geo. B. Arnold, dated May 8, 1860,

and also a separator, as described in the patent issued to George B. Arnold and Alfred Arnold, dated September 25, 1860.

The separator H, feeder or feeders I, an d plate J are arranged in the cross-section, Fig. 6, in the manner which I consider most desirable for producing my ruflie.

The bead N, which is presented by the tight fitting of the ungathered material B around the cord @,gives my ruffle its distinctive character. This bead, as arranged relatively to the part A, is tasty and ornamental, and is very impor tant to the proper display of a rufle when it is applied to the face rather than to the edge of a garment, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. lu these iigures M represents a portion not at the edge of a garment, but distant therefrom by any space desired. No other ruffle known to me capable of being produced on the sewingmachine in the present state ot' the art can be. applied so as to produce so ornamental an effect in the position shown.

My ruffle may, if preferred, be also applied in other situations. It may be introduced at the edge of a collar or other garment by introducing it between the collar and the facing. In such case the bead N should be allowed to show on the front side a little beyond the edge of the garment, and the ruffle should not bel folded over, as shown in Fig. 5, but should be allowed to remain in the position in which it comes from the machine.

An ett'ect nearly equivalent in its ornamental nature to the last-described use of my invention may, under some circumstances, be produced by properlyy arranging two folding-gages relatively' to a rufding apparatus, and by a singie operation of the machine folding inward the edge of the material of the garment, and folding in the opposite direction the corresponding portion of the lining or facing and ruffling the properly-presented strip between these parts; but this nearly 'equivalent ornamental effect can only be produced in such case by also introducing a cord or an equivalent piece of stuff to be inclosed in the fold of the edgeof the garment, so as lo exhibit a bead on the outside ot' thc garment along the edge of the ruffle.

It is also obvious that the gathered strip and a corded and folded edge 'ot' the garment may be alone united at a single operation, and the facing, ifone is required, may be added at asubsquentoperafion. In such case only one folding-gage need be used.

Having now fully described my invention, what- IA claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The within-described corded ruffle, as a new article of manufacture, the same being formed of a gathered strip, A, attached to a folded binding, B, or its equivalent, by a single series of imichine-stitches, D. with a cord, C, inclosed substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

ABBY H. PRICE.

Witnesses:

GEO. B. ARNOLD, D. W. S'rE'rsoN. 

